Zemo: Inner Turmoil
by thatoneguy655
Summary: After a failed attempt to complete a stolen Cosmic Cube, a confrontation with Captain America and the Winter Soldier has Baron Zemo think about the choices that led him to where he is now. One-off.


An explosion rocked the center of Bagalia City. Tower Zemo was under attack by Captain America and the Winter Soldier. The two had taken out the entirety of the Masters of Evil, leaving only Zemo himself. The Baron had recently caused a stir after he had Bagalia's armed forces and Hydra break into a SHIELD facility to steal an incomplete Cosmic Cube. Once he had it in his possession, he sought to complete it. However, Cap and Bucky's assault may very well prevent him from finishing it.

Zemo paced nervously in his office, at the very top of the tower, waiting for Hydra's scientists to return to him with the complete Cube. He stopped his pacing to look out the window. He looked across he sweeping underground city. He placed his hand on the window as he said, "This is my country...and soon this will be my world. Not even Steve Rogers and his sidekick can stop me. Not this time." He clenched his fist in anger, reflecting back on his countless defeats.

He then looked behind himself, seeing Captain America standing in the doorway. Zemo smirked upon seeing his archenemy, "Ahhh, Rogers. I see that you've made it. I suppose I should have expected this."

"Enough with the pleasantries, Helmut," Cap said with a stern expression on his face, "where's the cube?"

Zemo chuckled as he completely turned around. He placed his hand on his holstered sword as he said, "I'll tell you, but only if you answer me this. Where's Bucky?"

Without warning, the window behind Zemo shattered into pieces of glass as Bucky leapt in. "What in the name of-!?" Zemo exclaimed as he was tackled to the ground by the Winter Soldier. The two grappled on the ground, each trying to gain the upperhand. Zemo shoved Bucky off of him, standing back up. He unsheathed his sword and swung it at his opponent. The Winter Soldier retaliated by grabbing the sword with his robotic hand. It didn't even leave a scratch. He yanked it out of the Baron's hand, tossing it aside as if it were nothing. Zemo backed away towards the shattered window. Once again, his plan had been foiled. Were the Zemos always meant to fail?

The cold air of Bagalia brushed against Zemo's back, sending shivers up his spine. He looked to the two approaching heroes and then to the massive drop behind him. All of his previous failures came rushing back to him. The time his siege on Avengers Mansion led to his eventual defeat, the loss of Heike Zemo, the fact he was unable to avenge his father when he still considered that man his hero, the Thunderbolts undoing at his own hands, and perhaps what hit hardest of all was that he fell back into his old ways after his attempted redemption. Although only seconds had passed, it felt like an eternity.

Helmut's choices were clear. He could try to fight Captain America and Bucky, but would it ultimately matter? He had already failed his objective, so what'd be the point? To escape and be foiled another day?

Option two is that he'd be taken into custody by his two greatest rivals. A fate all too humiliating and defeating for Helmut. He'd almost certainly spend the rest of his days imprisoned for all the crimes he had committed.

His final option was to go out by suicide. Die on his own terms. Right now, it seemed to be the most tempting option. It looked like a good way to escape the monotony of his current life. A life he himself had wrecked, as he soon realized. Through both his ego and spite, Zemo became just as bad as he was before he changed during his stint on the Thunderbolts. Time was running out as Zemo snapped back to reality. Cap was ready to apprehend him but Zemo narrowly escaped by closing his eyes, crossing his arms and falling backwards.

Both Bucky and Cap let out a loud, "NO!" as Zemo fell from the skyscraper. He smiled as he fell, ready to accept his fate. However, when he opened his eyes, he saw that he wasn't falling at all. He looked up and sneered. Before Helmut could dive off completely, Bucky managed to dive and grab him by the ankle. He tried to squirm his way out of the Winter Soldier's grasp, but his robotic grip proved too strong.

Bucky pulled him back up, dropping Helmut onto the velvety carpet of his office. Zemo tried to crawl back towards the window but he was stopped as Cap placed his foot on Zemo's back. "You're not going to escape on my watch, Helmut," Steve said as he dragged Zemo further back into the office.

Zemo uncharacteristically snapped at the Captain, "You fool, I'm not trying to escape! I'm trying to DIE!" Both Steve and Bucky were taken aback by this statement. Bucky knelt down to Zemo's level, "Die? You mean, you don't have any kind of back up plans?"

"Of course not," Helmut said, "I don't even know why I stole that Cube in the first place! I don't know why I took over this country either! Or why I reassembled the Masters of Evil for that matter! Why, I don't even know why I joined Hydra!"

"I thought you you wanted to take over the world," Cap said, "all so you could remake it in your ideal image."

Zemo sighed, "That's not what I've ever wanted to do...at least, not in a long time. I just wanted to make the world a safer place. Think back to when I made the Liberator! I didn't make that to rule the world, I made that to make the world a safer place! To put the power back in the hands of the people! So they no longer had to live in fear of the supers! Then, when I had the moonstones, my goal was still the very same."

Bucky looked to Cap with a confused expression. "What's he talking about," he asked.

"Sometime back," Steve began to explain, "when Zemo led the Thunderbolts, he and the Thunderbolts made this device known as the Liberator. Back then, the Avengers and I didn't trust Helmut. It led to a skirmish where...where Zemo saved my life. I still wonder why he did that. I'll never know but perhaps, if we were more trusting of Helmut, things could have gone very differently for both him and us."

"Do you regret it," Bucky asked.

"Zemo's previous big plan involved him and a team of villains impersonating heroes to gain good publicity and to then take over the world," Cap said, "even if I wish things had gone differently, I could never trust Zemo. Especially not then. Not after all the deception and lying he had pulled just beforehand."

Zemo turned his head back to Steve, snarling under his mask, "You didn't answer the question, Captain. Do you regret what you and your Avengers did?"

"Yes," Steve admitted, "I do regret it. Even if I didn't trust you, and had good reason not to, maybe we still could have talked things out rather than being so quick to judge."

Zemo seemed shocked to see Cap admit this. So shocked, he remained speechless. Bucky looked to Zemo, "When I became Captain America, you let it leak out that I was the Winter Soldier. It cost me a lot of good will. It made so many people think I couldn't be trusted. Then you kidnapped me...but you didn't do it to kill me. You gave me a choice to either die or actually work for my redemption. I'd like to think it taught me a valuable lesson so I'm going to give you the same choice, Zemo." He signaled for Cap to take his foot off of Zemo's back. "You can go through with your suicide, escape all the consequences for your actions, or you can come with us. Live for the second chance you just might get."

Helmut stared Bucky down. He remained silent for another minute. Then he started to crawl towards the shattered window, making another attempt at taking his own life. Steve's eyes grew wide as he tried to stop Helmut from going through with it, but Bucky stopped him before he could even take one step forward.

"Bucky, you know we can't let him go through with this," Steve said.

"Let him make his own choice," Bucky replied, "I'm certain he'll make the right one."

Then, when Helmut reached the edge of the abyss, he paused. He looked back to the two heroes. "I...I'll never be accepted as a hero. I'm too set in my ways. I've realized this years ago, even at my best I was a hero doing things with the methods of a supervillain. Even a relative who had faith in me* lost it long ago after I joined Hydra."

"That's your choice. But I think that even some of the worst of us can change, if they genuinely mean it," Bucky replied.

Zemo relented, standing back up to approach his two captors. "So be it," he said, "take me in." Captain America snapped a set of high tech restraints to his wrists. "Don't let us down, Helmut," Cap said with a firm yet subtle smile. Zemo looked back to Steve without saying a word. His expression was nearly impossible to make out under his hood.

Minutes later, the three of them walked out of the ravaged Tower Zemo. It looked like it was on the verge of collapse. Captain America called in a Quinjet, which flew in and picked the three of them up. The ride back to Ryker's Island was a quiet one. Nobody said a word. There wasn't anything else they could say.

The Quinjet landed on Ryker's Island. Zemo was escorted to his cell by Captain America himself. He unlatched Helmut's restraints. As soon as he did, Zemo tore off his loose hood and handed it to Captain America. Cap glanced his eyes down at the hood and then to Zemo's hideously scarred face, "Why are you giving me this?"

"That mask...it reminds me too much of my father. I don't know why I started dressing like him again. I thought I hated the man but perhaps my subconscious still refused to let him go. I don't want to see it anymore. I can't stand looking at myself and seeing him staring back at me," Helmut responded. "Besides, I am unworthy of the title Baron Zemo. I'm not even worthy of the name Zemo."

Cap didn't reply, he simply nodded and walked away with the mask. Zemo's cell automatically shut, leaving the former Baron to be alone with his thoughts...

***here, Helmut is referring to Wendell Volker from the Thunderbolts Presents: Zemo - Born Better miniseries. we never did learn what Volker thought of Zemo falling back into villainy**

_So, I thought I'd try something a little different for this fanfic. I've never done a one-off before and I've also never done anything that was almost entirely character focused with very little actual action. I guess you could call also call this a fixfic since it involves turning the character of Baron Zemo back to his New Thunderbolts era characterization. I don't really like the direction Marvel took his character after Fabien Nicieza stopped him. He went from this morally conflicted person who always towed the line between good and evil to just a generic evil guy. Almost exactly like his father. He lost a lot of his depth which is rather unfortunate. Maybe someday he'll go back to the way he was in the comics but hey I doubt it._

_I might follow this story up one day but right now, I feel it works pretty well as a standalone thing._


End file.
